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Thursday, November 30, 2017

Have you ever watched a dog chase a car? It gets very excited, a lot of tail wagging and yapping, usually to no avail. The car always outpaces the dog, and the dog is left behind continuing its barking at a fast receding vehicle.

Just imagine what would happen if the dog caught the car. What do you think would happen next? I’m not sure I know, but one thing is for certain, I don’t think the dog knows either.

When we market, it’s like chasing the car as we pursue leads. It can be fun and exciting while pursuing the prospect. But what do you do when you have the prospect in front of you. Is it all yapping (selling) at the customer? Is there actually a thought out plan?

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Google and Facebook are competing head to head for our advertising dollar, which is a good thing. It’s a pity that the other channels are so far behind these two behemoths who dominate because of their audience sizes. As a result, both have become expensive, unless you aren’t a mug advertiser, but there certainly differences between the two platforms.

A starting point to consider is the different natures of the two platforms. Google is used by people looking for answers. These answers could be just information or solutions to problems they are experiencing. Facebook, on the other hand, is a place where people go to socialise. So Google users may be searching for people who sell products like yours. The best you can hope for as an advertiser on Facebook is that people are talking about products like yours. More often than not, they aren’t.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

"Upselling", or the "add-on sale", is an opportunity open to every business, yet most business owners and their staff don't ask for the extra purchase.

Fact is, once the customer has made the decision to buy from you, they have entered into a relationship of trust. And once the initial buying decision, or trust in you, is made, then they will more readily say yes to an additional offer. So why not make it?

In this podcast I reveal how to get that extra dollar more for zero cost.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

It’s usually not good form to knock the competition when advertising, at least not overtly, if for no other reason that it raises consciousness of alternatives to your product. Sometimes you can do it by emphasising strengths that you know are weaknesses in the opposition encouraging customers never to buy a product with such weaknesses. In other words, subtlety is the traditional approach.

This is not the approach that Samsung used for its latest phone, with outright mockery of its major competitor.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Several centuries ago inventors tried to build perpetual motion machines. The idea being, you just kick started it, and it would go on for ever and could potentially be a never ending source of energy. We now know that such machines are impossible, and they always run down due to the presence of friction. Perpetual motion machines would violate the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, colloquially described as “Things fall apart”.

It doesn’t matter how clever the design of the machine is, external factors will cause the machine to slow down until it stops. However, once you start the machine, overcoming inertia, only a small amount of energy may keep it running.

The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics also applies to Marketing. You might have a strong flow of customers from referrals, but over time there are external influences such as the changes in the, competition, innovation, customer needs, the economy or other reasons, that create a source of friction that can cause that steady flow to dwindle to a trickle. More...

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Owners avoid writing out a business plan because they believe it will take a long time for little benefit. But what if you could create your own plan in an hour and have a simple process with which to update it? Dr Greg Chapman shows you how.

Tuesday, November 07, 2017

For many people, math is hard, but I promise this post won’t be! (Perhaps I should have changed the title of this post?) Really the mathematics of profit are pretty simple. Where confusion occurs is treating turnover as a surrogate for profit.

Just focusing on Gross Profit, which includes ALL your variable Cost of Goods Sold, including labour, there is a pretty simple equation. More...

May Your Business this Year be - As You Plan It.

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Wednesday, November 01, 2017

Unless you are selling a commodity product or service, such as petrol where all prices displayed on roadside boards where you can compare 3 or 4 stations’ offers before you have to stop to refill, you need to give your buyers clues on the value of your services. Even brands may be treated as a commodity in this respect. You have decided on a particular brand and model of plasma screen TV and now you browse the internet for the cheapest price.

The fuel example is a commodity product and the TV screen example is a commodity service (a retail distribution service of a non-commodity product).

So even if you aren’t selling a commodity product, the first question many people ask is: “How much will it cost?” and if you tell them, it could be a very brief conversation, unless you are the cheapest.
More...